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nlagalle · 23rd August 2008, 02:16 PM

The second week

I'll try and bring you up to date to today (being Saturday)! As usual it's been pretty busy, but i managed to fit some fun stuff in.

On Sunday I had to return the rowing again as we had 4 medal chances in 4 races. So another set of tight deadlines and no time for the snappers to send their stuff in. Unfortunately it didn't rain Gold - quite the opposite. It's actually a bit of a downer as you are looking for those jubilation shots and it revs you up to send more stuff back. So after the Men's 8 (where James Tomkins was racing in) we had packed up and were ready to go.

One photographer was at the "Kiss and Cry" (yes that's even what the signpost called it!) area waiting from Tomkins to come out. She got the shot of his daughter squeezing through the fence to run up to her dad and give him a hug. Even though the team didn't win a medal, he was still given a hero's welcome by the crowd of people waiting there (and there was a large number of Aussie's there).

After the bus ride home, I was off to have my suit fitting and head off to dinner with a couple of the Host Broadcast guys. They had put me in touch with the tailor. So after my fitting i picked up my shirts and we were off to dinner. Another of the guys had recommended an Italian restaurant not far away to have dinner (he was going to meet us there). So we wander up the road and there is no sign of this place. Finally after getting in touch with him on his phone we discovered we had to turn around and head back in the direction we came!! There were no cabs so we jumped into a couple of rickshaws.

We only go a few hundred metres until we find the street we are supposed to turn down. We get off ask ask how much for the ride.. They reply 2 so we hand over 2 Yuan.. however they reckon they want 200.. We like bugger off! It nearly got to fists in the end. one of the guys threw a 20 at them and told them to F off. and as he was much stockier and taller, i think they got the message after he said it 3 times! Note to self - always find out how much before you get on the ride!).

So get into the restaurant and it is reasonably busy. luckily we had a booking and we are taken upstairs to our table. Now what I can only describe as a scene out of Faulty Towers is what came next. I swear all the waiters and waitresses (all chinese) were just like Manual! They were running around like blue arsed flies! after about 7 attempts we finally got our beers. I think one of the guys ordering 2 beers (he was thirsty) that threw them off. We were a bit worried about how the meal was going to be, but apart from them bringing a couple out in the wrong order it was actually very good. so by the time we left we were all laughing about the events earlier on. A quick walk over to Bar street and we are sitting on the street haivng another beer laughing at some of the sights (the 13 year old security patrol was quite funny!).

The second weeks of the games is generally quieter, Australia doesn't far too well in the Athletics, so it was a surprise when Sally McLellen won silver in the hurdles after Lolo tripped on the last hurdle. Our office and AAP (across the hallway) erupted when we saw she got silver. As it was late, the pressure to deliver images fast is even more critical. Our guys had images filed within minutes again, and made front page on a few of our papers running later editions that night. It's also a challenge to beat the wires as they are a much larger operation than us.

On Wednesday I was lucky enough to get a tour inside the IBC. My friend oganised it and took me around where all the feed comes in and goes back out. It's an unbelievable setup! All the feeds are edited outside the venue in the OB trucks (the main stadium for exmaple, has 4 OB trucks as different crews handle the track, the jumps the throws and the integrated mix). Those signals go backto the IBC where they are fed to the Rights Holders to use as they please. They also handle transmitting images via the Satellite farm around the world. They also catalogue every second of vision filmed. It's stored in archives and kept by the IOC.

Also by now we are planned our exit from here. Things on the rate card need to be returned and signed for, freight logistics. It's when i start to get a bit busier. We have started packing some stuff up and on Friday I'm back at the watercube to pack up our tribune spot. There is still diving on (but in another spot), and there isn't much interest in Syncronized swimming.

We also noticed out the main entrance to the MPC street hawkers are there selling knock offs of Olympic gear! Hat's T-shirts you name it. Easy bargaining too. Picked up a hat for about $2 that's after she wanted $20. ahh the China of old is back! I'm told you can even get your cheap rolex watches too.. There is police and guards around everywhere, but they don't even care.

Come Friday night and a lot of people have gone out for the night as it's been a pretty hard 2 weeks of nothing but work. I'm working in the office tonight, but am able to go up and kick back on the rooftop bar as they will call if there is a problem.. And just my luck there is! A photogrpaher at the Pole Vault had some issues. So i sort them out and head downstairs to the office to see how the Aussie is going. To my surprise there is only the Russian and the Aussie left. we were all cheering and ahhing at the misses. We were making that much noise a couple of journos from the USA today (Across the hallways from us too) came in and sat and watched it with us!

They have both had two missed attempts at 5.90 metres. The Russian fails on his third and it's up to Hooker to try and nail it. Well when he passed over that bar you should have heard the roar from our office (and AAP). Amazing. What was going to be a quiet night had suddenly turned around. Once again we delivered images and text back and if you are in Melbourne you might notice it made the front pages there (not sure about Sydney).

It was a great finish to the week after we watched the Men's hockey lose, the womens softball coming so close to a gold medal chance, a shocker in the Cycling and coming close in the womens water polo.

So I am sitting here on Saturday morning, off to pick my suits up this afternoon and going down to the Aths tonight to get a photo on the finish line for my collection.

Closing Ceremony tomorrow night, then the big party and pack up begins...

23rd August 2008, 02:16 PM	#18 (permalink)
nlagalle Member Join Date: May 2007 Location: Melbourne Member of: QF SG, DJ, PC Gold, SPG Gold, Rydges Posts: 665	Re: Beijing Olympics 2008 The second week I'll try and bring you up to date to today (being Saturday)! As usual it's been pretty busy, but i managed to fit some fun stuff in. On Sunday I had to return the rowing again as we had 4 medal chances in 4 races. So another set of tight deadlines and no time for the snappers to send their stuff in. Unfortunately it didn't rain Gold - quite the opposite. It's actually a bit of a downer as you are looking for those jubilation shots and it revs you up to send more stuff back. So after the Men's 8 (where James Tomkins was racing in) we had packed up and were ready to go. One photographer was at the "Kiss and Cry" (yes that's even what the signpost called it!) area waiting from Tomkins to come out. She got the shot of his daughter squeezing through the fence to run up to her dad and give him a hug. Even though the team didn't win a medal, he was still given a hero's welcome by the crowd of people waiting there (and there was a large number of Aussie's there). After the bus ride home, I was off to have my suit fitting and head off to dinner with a couple of the Host Broadcast guys. They had put me in touch with the tailor. So after my fitting i picked up my shirts and we were off to dinner. Another of the guys had recommended an Italian restaurant not far away to have dinner (he was going to meet us there). So we wander up the road and there is no sign of this place. Finally after getting in touch with him on his phone we discovered we had to turn around and head back in the direction we came!! There were no cabs so we jumped into a couple of rickshaws. We only go a few hundred metres until we find the street we are supposed to turn down. We get off ask ask how much for the ride.. They reply 2 so we hand over 2 Yuan.. however they reckon they want 200.. We like bugger off! It nearly got to fists in the end. one of the guys threw a 20 at them and told them to F off. and as he was much stockier and taller, i think they got the message after he said it 3 times! Note to self - always find out how much before you get on the ride!). So get into the restaurant and it is reasonably busy. luckily we had a booking and we are taken upstairs to our table. Now what I can only describe as a scene out of Faulty Towers is what came next. I swear all the waiters and waitresses (all chinese) were just like Manual! They were running around like blue arsed flies! after about 7 attempts we finally got our beers. I think one of the guys ordering 2 beers (he was thirsty) that threw them off. We were a bit worried about how the meal was going to be, but apart from them bringing a couple out in the wrong order it was actually very good. so by the time we left we were all laughing about the events earlier on. A quick walk over to Bar street and we are sitting on the street haivng another beer laughing at some of the sights (the 13 year old security patrol was quite funny!). The second weeks of the games is generally quieter, Australia doesn't far too well in the Athletics, so it was a surprise when Sally McLellen won silver in the hurdles after Lolo tripped on the last hurdle. Our office and AAP (across the hallway) erupted when we saw she got silver. As it was late, the pressure to deliver images fast is even more critical. Our guys had images filed within minutes again, and made front page on a few of our papers running later editions that night. It's also a challenge to beat the wires as they are a much larger operation than us. On Wednesday I was lucky enough to get a tour inside the IBC. My friend oganised it and took me around where all the feed comes in and goes back out. It's an unbelievable setup! All the feeds are edited outside the venue in the OB trucks (the main stadium for exmaple, has 4 OB trucks as different crews handle the track, the jumps the throws and the integrated mix). Those signals go backto the IBC where they are fed to the Rights Holders to use as they please. They also handle transmitting images via the Satellite farm around the world. They also catalogue every second of vision filmed. It's stored in archives and kept by the IOC. Also by now we are planned our exit from here. Things on the rate card need to be returned and signed for, freight logistics. It's when i start to get a bit busier. We have started packing some stuff up and on Friday I'm back at the watercube to pack up our tribune spot. There is still diving on (but in another spot), and there isn't much interest in Syncronized swimming. We also noticed out the main entrance to the MPC street hawkers are there selling knock offs of Olympic gear! Hat's T-shirts you name it. Easy bargaining too. Picked up a hat for about $2 that's after she wanted $20. ahh the China of old is back! I'm told you can even get your cheap rolex watches too.. There is police and guards around everywhere, but they don't even care. Come Friday night and a lot of people have gone out for the night as it's been a pretty hard 2 weeks of nothing but work. I'm working in the office tonight, but am able to go up and kick back on the rooftop bar as they will call if there is a problem.. And just my luck there is! A photogrpaher at the Pole Vault had some issues. So i sort them out and head downstairs to the office to see how the Aussie is going. To my surprise there is only the Russian and the Aussie left. we were all cheering and ahhing at the misses. We were making that much noise a couple of journos from the USA today (Across the hallways from us too) came in and sat and watched it with us! They have both had two missed attempts at 5.90 metres. The Russian fails on his third and it's up to Hooker to try and nail it. Well when he passed over that bar you should have heard the roar from our office (and AAP). Amazing. What was going to be a quiet night had suddenly turned around. Once again we delivered images and text back and if you are in Melbourne you might notice it made the front pages there (not sure about Sydney). It was a great finish to the week after we watched the Men's hockey lose, the womens softball coming so close to a gold medal chance, a shocker in the Cycling and coming close in the womens water polo. So I am sitting here on Saturday morning, off to pick my suits up this afternoon and going down to the Aths tonight to get a photo on the finish line for my collection. Closing Ceremony tomorrow night, then the big party and pack up begins...